


Needed

by crystalkei



Category: The Handmaid's Tale (TV)
Genre: Canon, F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 09:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14690856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalkei/pseuds/crystalkei
Summary: Nick found her in the rain and he needed her to be alive.She woke up and she needed him to be close.





	Needed

She was so cold. It’d been raining all night but how long had she been out here to be this cold? 

 

“Help!” he called again and noticed lights turning on in the kitchen. At least Rita would be coming soon. 

 

“June,” he shouted it first, trying to get her to wake up, but the longer he held her the more his shouts became whispers, as he tried to pull her closer to warm her up. 

 

There was so much blood. Even in the rain, he could see she’d lost too much. It was all over him now. It was too slick for him to stand up and carry her. So all he could do was hold her closer to him and keep shouting for help. Objectively he knew it’d only been three minutes at most, but it felt like an eternity by the time he heard the lazy guardian come trudging towards him. The guy did perimeter checks so sloppily that Nick would have turned him in several times over except it made it easier for June to sneak out to the apartment. Now it felt like a gross oversight to have not turned the guy in. 

 

“Where’s Rita?” Nick stood up, waving the guardian over, and pulling his jacket off to put over June.

 

“I don’t know,” the guardian spit back, but then he saw June. “Is she dead?”

 

“Not yet, but we’ll both be fucked if we don’t get her to the car, now!” 

 

Nick planted his feet better and got his arms under June. She was so heavy. Dead weight. Nick tried not to panic at the feeling. 

 

Rita met him at the porch with an umbrella, her face pale. “She...I think she’s miscarrying. There was blood in the laundry and she almost fainted today, why didn’t she tell anyone?”

 

He didn’t know it was possible for his blood to run colder. He knew why she didn’t tell anyone. 

 

“Get Mrs. Waterford. If she’s not in the car by the time I’m ready, have them call another car. I have to get her to the hospital.” He impressed himself with how clear and unwavering his own voice was giving the commands. 

 

Rita nodded her head and gave the umbrella to the lazy guardian so he could hold it over June as Nick carried her to the car. 

 

Serena Joy must have heard him yelling for help because she was throwing herself into the other backseat door at the same time he was putting June in it. She didn’t question him, just took June’s shoulders and helped pull her in. 

 

He didn’t bother with his seatbelt, just started the car and peeled out. He reached his arm behind him, well aware he shouldn’t, but not caring, to touch any part of June he could reach. Once they got to the hospital, he knew he’d be kicked out, he didn’t know when the next time he could touch her would be. Especially now that the Waterfords were set on keeping them further apart. He needed her to know he was there, he wanted her to feel safe. 

 

“What happened?” 

 

“I found her like that, unconscious, in the garden, I don’t know what happened.” He risked a glance behind him at Mrs. Waterford, she was terrified, but she believed him. 

 

“There’s too much blood.” Serena Joy whispered to herself so Nick assumed it didn’t require a response from him, he focused on the road. 

 

Someone called ahead to the hospital because when he reached the front, there was already a gurney and several staff members waiting. But he jumped out of the car the same time he threw it into park, desperate to get one more minute to hold her, but they’d already gotten her on the gurney and started pushing her through the doors, Mrs. Waterford behind them by the time he got around the car. He followed them inside, but quickly a few guardians held him back.

 

“Strong fetal pulse!” someone shouted but that didn’t give Nick the comfort he needed.

 

He needed to know if June was okay. 

 

\--

 

There were flashing lights. No. It was a hallway and she was looking up at the lights above her, fluorescent lights moving fast. No. She was moving fast under them. There was shouting. It smelled like antiseptic and...and Nick. Someone was holding her hand. She tried to close around it but she couldn’t. It was too hard. Her muscles wouldn’t listen. It was better to just go to sleep. Maybe she wouldn’t wake up. 

 

But she did wake up. June woke up and she’d snapped out of it. She was getting out of here, with her babies, eventually. Soon. She promised. 

 

“I’m going to talk to the doctor one more time.” Serena Joy popped her head into the room, all smiles. “But the nurse said someone is going to come in and remove your IV so we can go home, Offred. Bet you’d prefer to recover in your own bed, hm?” 

 

June gave her a faint smile. “Yes, Mrs. Waterford.” 

 

Serena grinned wider, happy to hear her strong response, even if it was just the same words she’d been chastised for days before. 

Of course, she was shackled to the bed. Just her ankle. Like when she was held in the Red Center. But since this was the place she last disappeared from, they weren’t taking any chances. 

 

So yes, she’d absolutely prefer to be in her bed at home. At least the chains there were invisible and didn’t chaff her skin. 

 

The door opened and she heard someone talking, “You’ve got three minutes, until I get back from my smoke break.”

 

“Thanks,” Nick said, entering the room backwards, like he was checking for people. She didn’t dare say anything until he shut the door. “Hey.” 

 

He seemed to practically teleport to her side from the door, and she was grateful. His hands were cupping her face and he was looking her over as though he were checking for missing limbs. 

 

“I’m okay,” June said, her voice breaking with relief. 

 

“But are you?” He looked into her eyes, his own skeptical and concerned. “You weren’t here for a while and I-” 

 

She took one of his hands from her face and moved it down to her stomach. “I know, I’m sorry, but we’re okay.” 

 

Nick glanced down at where she’d moved their hands. He felt her hard stomach, it’d been weeks since he’d touched her there, it felt different. 

 

“I’m glad the baby is okay but I need you to be okay. I’m worried about you,” he said earnestly. 

 

June nodded, unable to respond as tears formed. No one cared about her wellbeing because she was just a womb. She was the house that held the baby. She was to be controlled until she could fulfill her purpose. But Nick cared. 

 

He kissed her forehead and she noticed he also had tears in his eyes. 

 

“I’m sorry,” she offered. 

 

“Don’t apologize. I understand.”

 

“No, listen, I didn’t tell anyone-”

 

“I know. Rita told me. And I know.” 

 

“You’re not mad at me?”

 

He looked horrified at the suggestion. “No.”

 

Before she could say anything else there was a knock on the door. June gripped Nick’s hand harder, afraid that they’d find him, take him away, and she’d never see him again. 

 

“They’re coming so you gotta go, man.” 

 

Nick nodded to the orderly at the door and stood up, but he didnt let go of her hand. “I’ll see you in the car.” 

 

He leaned over and kissed her forehead, lingering, he didn’t want to leave her and she needed more from him. 

 

“Nick,” she whispered as he pulled away. 

 

His face fell and she tugged on his hand, pulling him closer to her, she reached for his cheek and he eagerly went where she led, leaning down further so she could kiss him. Nick sighed into her, and she relished in the feeling of his lips against hers. But he really had to slip out before he was caught, and this quick moment with him was enough to calm her inner panic. 

 

With one final touch, a flash of worry across his face when he touched her arm where the IV was, he left. 

  
Everything had been hopeless until she woke up. But she was going to get her babies out. And Nick. They’d all get out of here. They needed to.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I swear I'm working on my All My Bones and also prompts on tumblr but this just came out like a flash so please be patient with me on my other stuff. Shout out to Tina for basically approving every line in this fic as it was written.


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